Anal infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types associated with a high risk of pre-cancerous and cancerous cell changes persisted for two years in 37% of men who have sex with men (MSM) enrolled in an international study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The prospective, observational study involved 406 HIV-negative MSM recruited in Brazil, Mexico and the United States. Among men with prevalent high-risk HPV infection, 37% retained the infection for at least 24 months and HPV-16 infection persisted for at least 24 months in 30% of those with this infection at baseline.

“Slightly over one-third of MSM exhibited persistence of prevalence high-risk types for > 24 months indicating that prevalent high-risk anal HPV infection may be a clinically important event,” comment the investigators. “These results may help inform future anal cancer screening that uses HPV-DNA testing.” Read more via AIDSmap